Ex-Whole Foods exec: 1,000 stores 'achievable' for company

Wednesday

One of Whole Foods Market's former top executives says the Austin-based company could still someday reach one of its most-talked-about goals: Topping the 1,000-store mark.

In an interview on the 'First Trade' program on Yahoo Finance, former Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb said "the 1,000 stores are achievable,” if the organic grocery company wants to make it happen.

One of Austin's most successful startup stories, Whole Foods began with a single store on North Lamar Boulevard in 1980. It grew to a chain of more than 460 stores by the time it was sold to online retail giant Amazon two years ago in a $13.7 acquisition deal.

The possibility of reaching the 1,000-store mark was discussed at investor presentations as one reason among many to buy the company's stock, and was seen as a realistic possibility by analysts and company executives. The store growth has slowed since Amazon bought the company, with estimates that there are currently about 500 Whole Foods stores. Amazon has also killed the 365 store brand, as co-founder and CEO John Mackey said in January that “as we have been consistently lowering prices in our Whole Foods Market stores over the past year, the price distinction between the two brands has become less relevant.”

In his interview with Yahoo Finance, Robb said: “It’s funny how that 1,000-store number came up. The company was doing, 20 to 25 new stores a year, but remember the world has changed because of Prime Now and these other delivery options the customer have. You take a physical store and extend their sphere of influence great. You see Walmart talking about this and Target talking about this. So the way you do retail now is different than just having physical stores.”

Robb also said that Amazon's decision to acquire Whole Foods was a landmark moment for the grocery industry.

“The deal heralded as a proxy that integrated retailing is the future,” Robb said. “The customer is now in charge of what choices they make — they aren’t going to be told what foods to have or where they are going to shop. So that deal said unless you are willing to play in multiple channels, you are going to have a hard time growing.”

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